National Women's Football Open: Cebuanos enter finals

Queen City United maintained its composure as it fashioned out a hard earned 2-1 victory over Cagayan de Oro to clinch a finals berth in the Philippine Football Federation National Women's Open Championships at the Tiongko Field in Davao City.

The Cebuanas struggled in the first half when its skipper Jan Salac played below par as she is suffering from a heart ailment.

"We played at one in the afternoon for the first time in this tournament, and I was having a hard time because of my ailment," Salac said.

After a scoreless first half, things went bad for the Cebuanas as their goalkeeper Iris Meca committed a blunder when a Cagayan player scored five minutes after.

Catching up for the first time, the Cebuanas courageously rebounded behind Rhodora Toledo, who tied the count, 1-all, in the 76th minute.

Marlou Solon found Toledo inside the penalty box before the latter sneaked in her shot past the goalkeeper.

Solon also shared limelight by scoring in the 88th minute, coming from a throw from Kristina Bejec down straight to the goal.

Coached by Richard Montayre, the Cebuanas will set up a finals showdown between the winner of the defending champion Davao City and Ilo-ilo, with the former leading by 3-0 as of press time yesterday.

"We are now more confident with our fighting spirit because we showed that we can overcome deficits," Salac said.

"We notice that they attack from the sides, so we have to stop their left and right wingers," Toledo said.